Sunday, April 24, 2016

AN EXPLOSION OF COLOR

Last Saturday, we took advantage of the great Spring weather to attend the next to last day of the spectacular Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG).

That there are more than 30,000 varieties of orchids is mind-boggling. The NYBG had thousands on display. Individual blooms range in size from smaller than a dime to larger than your fist. Among the first orchids we saw were these spidery orchids with fine long petals.

This pair of matte white with pale green features the distinctive 3-D slipper shape and looks quite different from flatter one-dimensional sisters.

Shaped like no other orchids we saw that day, these deep red and bright yellow oblong flowers lack the big, wide rounded petals of many of their compadres but are showstoppers nonetheless.

Tiny bleeding heart orchids.

Saturated yellow orchids with splashes of deep orange.

The orchids were dazzling, but we were also captivated by the sheer variety of plant life at the Garden. Here are just a few of the other wonders we saw.

Wonderful waxy blossoms (flowers? fruit?) that hung over our heads. (Yes, we know - we should have looked for the labels.)

A tender little curled up shoot.

One of a large variety of pitcher plants.

And this Dayglo colored spiky flower. We swear we're not making these colors up.

The Garden and its spectacularly landscaped grounds, conservatory, restaurants and gift shop are all just a short ride on Metro North's Harlem line. The train station is located a half-block from the garden's front gate. Couldn't be more convenient.

We became members of the NY Botanical Garden that afternoon (it's a great deal - visiting twice as a non-member costs the same as a full year's membership), so who knows? Maybe we'll have more stories in the future on plant and flower-centric events. And maybe we'll see you there.

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GROWING OLD WITH VERVE
‘Growing old gracefully’ is an outdated concept. We prefer ‘growing old with verve’. This blog documents our efforts to live up to that motto, in photos and essays. We embrace our gray hair, while sharing the playground nicely with our younger siblings. Bette Davis was right when she said 'growing old is not for sissies', but it’s also not one of Dante’s circles of hell. Idiosyncratic Fashionistas explores what’s out there for Women of a Certain Age, comments on what’s not out there, and demonstrates that our overlooked demographic is still fabulous.
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